courteous
/ˈkɝti.əs/adjective
courteous is spelled C-O-U-R-T-E-O-U-S. The wrong spelling people search most is curtious: about 350 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Courteous is an adjective meaning “Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette”.
How many letters and syllables are in courteous?
| Letters | 9: C-O-U-R-T-E-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, curtious, about 350 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell courteous?
Courteous is spelled C-O-U-R-T-E-O-U-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for courteous in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is courteous?
Courteous appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce courteous?
- UK /ˈkɜːti.əs/
- US /ˈkɝti.əs/
Courteous has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-courteous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with courteous?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as courteous (/ɜɹtiəs/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: outsource.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of courteous
- more courteous comparative
- most courteous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does courteous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.
a courteous gentleman a courteous gesture
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Courteous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense showing regard for others:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | courtois, poli |
| German | höflich, zuvorkommend, aufmerksam |
| Portuguese | cortês |
| Spanish | cordial, cortés |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does courteous come from?
From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”). By surface analysis, court + -eous. Compare typologically Czech zdvořilý (<~ dvůr), German höflich (<~ Hof). Also note Russian прийти́сь ко двору́ (prijtísʹ ko dvorú). Compare typologically civil, urbane. See pagan for the opposite.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).